Finance Minister Cites Health Ministry's Poor Budget Prioritization for Insurance Payment Crisis

Kathmandu. Finance Minister Rameswor Khanal stated that the current problems in health insurance payments stem from the Ministry of Health's failure to set priorities while formulating the budget.

While unveiling the mid-term review of the budget for the current fiscal year 2082/83 on Tuesday, Finance Minister Khanal explained that the current crisis arose because the Ministry of Health had to manage insurance liabilities within the budget ceiling allocated to it.

Finance Minister Khanal said, 'When the budget was being prepared, the Ministry of Health was instructed to allocate enough from its ceiling to cover all health insurance payments. However, they allocated less and used the received budget elsewhere. The Ministry of Finance cannot know the extent of the insurance liability even if it wants to.'

Minister Khanal informed that the Ministry of Finance has shown flexibility to resolve the insurance payment issue. According to him, an initial allocation of 1 billion rupees was made, and recently, a further 1.72 billion rupees, which appeared to be saved from other headings within the Ministry of Health, has been reallocated to pave the way for insurance payments.

'We are serious about not letting government hospitals reach a state of closure,' Minister Khanal said, 'After Falgun 21, we will continue to pay further liabilities based on the availability of resources.'